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Australia has always had a strong link to the Ethereal plane. During the time before the Purity Crusade, known as the Dreamtime to native Ethereals, the Aboriginal pantheons controlled the cntinent, while Blandine and Beleth's forces clashed for position and superiority. Even after the Purity Crusade, the strong links between the native Ethereals and the Corporeal protected them to a greater extent than many others. Blandine and Beleth both took stronger roles, however, and the continent became the primary Corporeal battlefield in their personal War.

Melbourne itself was home to the Wurundjeri tribe, a fairly large tribe with a relatively strong Ethereal pantheon which survived the Purity Crusade, until the arrival of Europeans. Smallpox and other diseases decimated the tribes, while European settlers stole their lands for handfuls of beads and other such trinkets. The Ethereals clung stubbornly to their remaining tethers, and due to the remnants of the Dreamtime, a few managed to survive, primarily a tether to Bunjil, the supreme god of the Kulin panteon, along the Yarra. Still, Celestial involvement apart from the manueverings of Blandine and Beleth remained minor.

That all changed with the Gold Rush. Servitors of Trade, Cities, Greed, Factions and others descended upon the city and the surrounding environs. Melbourne was fresh ground, a new battleground of the War. For the first century after its founding, the city's fate or destiny seemed up in the air, but after the 1956 Olympics, the Host began to gain the upper hand in the city. Slums were knocked away and replaced with prosperous suburbs, the ethnic fractions of the city began to break down and civic pride began to mean something. Despite its replacement by Horde-influenced Sydney as the premier Australian city, Melbourne is on a upswing towards Destiny.

The Host

Today, Melbourne is a stronghold for the Host in Australia. There are approximately twice as many Angelic tethers as Demonic tethers, and Horde forces are similarly outnumbered. Major Archangels in Melbourne are Blandine, Bethanel and Novalis, and Micheal's strongest Tether on the Australian continent, the Shrine of Rememberence, also brings the forces of War to the city. The city is also home to a Judgement Triad, the highest-ranking on the Australian continent, and several word-bound Angels.

Blandine:
Though she finds that other areas are in more need of her Servitor's assistance, the legacy of forty thousand years of conflict has left Blandine with several scattered small Tethers and one large Tether in the region, the MCG. Strange that it seems, the MCG has been a centre for the hopes and dreams of Melbournians for so long it has become a permenant tether to Dreams, though Malphas would love to take control. All celestials should be careful when visting Melbourne or Australia in general... it's easy to slip into the Ethereal plane, and for Ethereals to slip out...

Bethanel:
Bethanel loves Melbourne. To him, it's almost the apothesis of what a city can be: green, clean and wealthy, and he's been involved in guiding it from the start. Flinders Street Station is his primary Tether in the city, though he also has one in the Rialto. His most powerful servitor in the city, Buniah, an Elohite Friend of Citizens, has recently been granted the Word of Melbourne, and has a number of city Angels in her service. She is currently consolidating her power base, but all angels operating in the city are expected to check in with a Servitor of Cities. Janus's angels seem to have particular trouble with this concept. The other Word-bound of Cities in Melbourne is the Angel of Trams.

Christopher:
Christopher has a tether at the Royal Children's Hospital, but his presence in the city is fairly limited, only a few Servitors and Soldiers.

David:
David has no tethers in Melbourne, his nearest is a six-hour drive away at the Twelve Apostles. A few Servitors and Soldiers of his operate in the city, primarily promoting labour movements and reducing ethnic disunity.

Dominic:
Dominic has no tethers in Melbourne, and little interest in the city itself other than as a convenient base for his Australian operations. One of his Kyriotates has been given the job of discouraging corruption in the state police force, but other than that his involvement begins and ends with the Triad.

Eli:
Eli has a single tether in Melbourne, at the home of Tom Roberts in Collingwood, a famous Australian painter. A few Servitors of Eli hang around Melbourne.

Gabriel:
There are one or two angels of Fire in the city, enough to deal with the more twisted citizens of the city, but it's fairly unimportant. Gabriel generally pays more attention to rural Victoria and its bushfires.

Janus:
Most angels of the Wind find Melbourne a fairly staid and boring city; they'd much rather be messing up Demonic schemes in Sydney. Janus would like to introduce more change to the city, but he defers to the other Archangels and most Windies avoid Melbourne.

Jordi:
Melbourne is of precisely no interest to Jordi. Not enough animals, and those that are here aren't native. It is disturbed by the spread of civilization into the wilds of Australia, though.

Laurence:
Laurence has no tethers in Melbourne, and though he'd love to have more influence in the city, there are many more important battlegrounds. He's currently assigned all his angels that once operated in Melbourne to curbing the power of the Horde in Sydney, and leaves Melbourne's War to Micheal.
Marc:
Marc has a tether at the Royal Exhibition Centre, but he is concerned with the amount of influence Mammon is gathering in the city. He has several angels assigned to Melbourne, including one Master of Finances, to attempt to weaken Mammon's influence and perhaps destroy his tether at Crown.

Michael:
Michael is the most powerful member of the War faction in the city, with his major Tether at the Shrine of Remembrance. He is focused on eliminating the demonic influences from Melbourne, and he's not going to let politics get in the way. At least seven Servitors of the War are assigned to the city to locate and eliminate demonic threats.

Novalis:
Novalis has a powerful Tether in the Royal Botanic Gardens, and several other smaller tethers in various parks around the city, including Flagstaff Gardens and Royal Park. Her Servitors in the city are generally more focused on the botanical aspects of her Word rather than the metaphorical aspects, but will still try to redeem demons and prevent violence when possible.
Yves:
Yves has no tethers in the city of Melbourne, but he's quite pleased with the upward swing. One or two Servitors of Yves operate in Melbourne, doing whatever it is they do.